Franklin's Green Book Entry

Franklin's Green Book Entry. . , This site is historically recognized for its former owner Ruth Gaylor (1902-1982) and her guest house participation in the famed Green Book. This book was first published in 1936 by Victor H. Green (1892-1960). The Green Book was the product of the rising African American middle class having the finances and vehicles for travel and facing a world where social and legal restrictions barred them from many accommodations. At the time there were thousands of "sundown towns" where African Americans were legally barred from spending the night there at all. This book provided a guide to hotels and restaurants that would accept their business, often ones established especially for the black customer. For the Negro traveler there was always trouble finding a suitable accommodation in hotels and guest houses where they would be welcomed., The author of the Green Book wrote for his introduction: "There will be a day sometime in the near future, when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal rights and privileges in the United States." The book originally sold for 25 cents, increasing to $1.25 by 1957. State laws in the South required separate facilities for African Americans, and many hotels, guest houses, and restaurants in northern states also excluded them. The 2019 Academy Award winning motion picture entitled "Green Book" shared incidents of discrimination that gave reason for the book's publication.